Based on the iconic novel by George Orwell, 1984 brings
us the story of Winston Smith, a cog in the giant machine state of Oceania.
Physically and mentally under the omnipresent eye of Big Brother, Winston has
been caught struggling for scraps of love and freedom in a world awash with
distrust and violence. With the brutal "help" of four Party Members,
Winston is forced to confess his Thoughtcrimes before an unseen inquisitor, and
the audience -- which acts as a silent witness to his torture. Authorized
by the Orwell Estate, this critically-acclaimed adaptation had its world
premiere at the Actors' Gang Theatre. Directed by Tim Robbins, it went to five
extended runs in Los Angeles, and toured to Europe, Asia, South and
Central America, Australia, and well as 40 of the United States.

The LA Weekly
wrote, "We forget that what made 1984 frightening at the time of
its publication was not Orwell's far-fetched prediction of a totalitarian elite
forever frozen into power. It terrified because it presumed to describe 1948 -
the year of the book's writing - as though it were ancient, inalterable
history. Even still, so much of Orwell's vision of the political future, from
the strangulation of language to the end of privacy, has come to pass, though
mostly with our hearty consent. By far the most disturbing parallel has been
our game acceptance of never-ending war and expedient torture - we seem to be
thoroughly at peace with these concepts as long as we have enough creature
comforts. Today, opinion polls show that Americans demand that there be more
public surveillance cameras and are quite agreeable to having their reading and
entertainment habits monitored by police agencies. (We don't mind having our
phones tapped, so long as we have a choice of downloadable ring tones.) It may
be argued that Orwell erred by not predicting our lusty embrace of a life of
reduced freedoms, but perhaps not even he was pessimistic enough to believe in
such a sad possibility."

Michael Gene Sullivan is
an award-winning actor, director, and playwright. As an actor and director his
work includes productions with the American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, the Magic, Marin, Eureka, and Lorraine Hansberry Theaters,
Theatreworks, and the San Francisco and African American Shakespeare Companies.

As a playwright, Mr. Sullivan's political dramas,
musicals, and satires include 1600 Transylvania Avenue, Mr. Smith Goes
to Obscuristan (with Josh Kornbluth), Godfellas, Red State,
Too Big to Fail, Possibilidad or The Death of the Worker, the
all-woman farce Recipe, and his one person show, Did
Anyone Ever Tell You -- You Look Like Huey P. Newton? Mr. Sullivan's
plays have been performed at the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the International
Festival of Verbal Art (Berlin), The Hong Kong Arts Festival, and in Greece,
Spain, Columbia, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and in theaters throughout the
United States.

In 1989 Mr. Sullivan became a member of the Tony and OBIE
award-winning (and despite its misleading name never, ever silent) San
Francisco Mime Troupe, where he has acted in, directed, or written over 30
productions. In 2000 he became the Troupe's Resident Playwright, and has since
written some of SFMT's most successful political comedies.